Recollection
by Lucinda the Maid
Summary: One of Tomo's pranks goes horribly wrong, and, as a result, Chiyo gets amnesia. Will her friends help her get her memory back at the risk of losing their sanity? Very implicit ChiyoSakaki. COMPLETED!
1. Impact

Hello to all! Welcome to my newest fic! This was just an idea that randomly popped into my head last week, and, usually, when ideas come to me like that, I just _have_ to write them down before I lose inspiration for them. Yesterday, after finishing up the third chapter in my other series, I dug this up (from my English folder, no less) and decided to edit and post it. So… here it is!

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**Disclaimer:** Roses are red… violets are blue… I don't own Azumanga… so you will not sue.

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**Chapter One: Impact**

Tomo teetered precariously as she placed a bucket above the door to Yukari's classroom, trying not to spill the contents inside. Below her, the rest of her classmates continued to talk amongst themselves, paying no mind to the giggling girl atop a chair at the front of the room.

All completely ignored her… save one.

"Tomo, what in hell are you doing?" this lone female asked, peering out at her from behind both tawny bangs and enormous glasses.

The short-haired girl who had just been addressed turned around, smiling widely. "Ah, my dear Koyomi. I'm so happy you asked…" Upon hearing this, the titian-haired girl, also known as "Yomi", groaned. Just now, Tomo's voice had taken on a tone she normally got whenever something bad was going to happen. Despite its overall happy nature, it foreboded a horrible incident, foreshadowed an ominous occurrence, threatened, quite possibly, life _itself_…

Yomi shook her head. There she went losing her sanity again. Somehow, whenever Tomo spoke like that, she underwent a strange feeling, one of apprehension, confusion, and even anger all at once, and these emotions, when combined, helped to steal away her self-control and send her stumbling toward the edge of lunacy.

Tomo, who had since placed the full bucket above the door, hopped down from the chair she had been standing on and made her way toward Yomi. "I heard from my parents once," she explained, "That, one day in April in America, people play tricks on one another for fun."

"But its _February_," Yomi pointed out, "And, really, do we need a special holiday to tell us when we're allowed to pull pranks?"

Tomo shrugged. "I dunno. Americans are weird in that way. But, anyways, I decided today, 'Hey, that sounds like fun!', so I'm going to prank Yukari, just to get in the spirit of 'April Fool's Day'!"

"In February," Yomi reminded.

"What's your deal? It's never too early to start to celebrate! But, getting back to my prank, I put a bucket above the door there, so, when Yukari walks through it, it will fall on her! Isn't that genius?"

"You're a moron," Yomi said simply, as one who is stating the obvious would. Which Yomi was doing. "Making a bucket fall off a door may _scare_ Yukari, but that hardly counts as a prank."

"Ah, but Yomi, my friend, you miss the point," Tomo said, snaking her arm around her companion's shoulder. "You see, I filled it with water, so, when Yukari fully opens the door, she'll get soaked!"

"I still think it's a stupid idea," Yomi stated, brushing Tomo's arm away.

"Hey, what are you talking about?"

Yomi turned at the sound of the new voice and saw her friend Kagura approach. The dark-skinned athlete brushed a stray strand of chocolate hair from her set countenance, eyes searching for an answer to her prompt.

"Oh, nothing," Tomo said flippantly, shrugging. "I was just telling Yomi here that I wanted to prank Yukari, so I put a bowling ball in that bucket above the door…"

"WHAT?" This came from Yomi, her eyes flashing from behind her glasses. "You never said _that_!"

"I know," Tomo said nonchalantly, "I lied just now."

"A bowling ball, huh?" called another girl, a short one named Osaka, from her desk, "On Yukari's head? Won't that be like… really, _really_ heavy?"

"You think?" said Yomi.

"Uh-huh."

The bespectacled girl sighed and slumped into her own desk, defeated by an even bigger bubble-head than Tomo. "You're hopeless."

Osaka shook her head. "'Hopeless' isn't a name. Besides, I'm Osaka."

"No, you're Sakaki," said Tomo suddenly, not to mention blatantly untruthfully. The real Sakaki, who had previously been sitting quietly at her desk, drawing a picture of a cat, looked up at her name, black hair falling in front of her face and over her not-so-modestly-sized chest. "_I'm_ Sakaki," the girl said gently, as though to remind everyone that she was there.

"No, _I_ am," declared Osaka.

"Can I be Kagura, then?" piped up Tomo, playing along with her own game—one that was promptly ended by a karate chop from Yomi. "Will you please be quiet?" she commanded, pointing to each person as she said their name, "_You're _Tomo, _she's_ Osaka, _she's_ Sakaki, and _you're_ insane!"

"But… but…" Tomo's voice quavered almost as much as her defenseless body did. "Wh-which am I? 'Tomo'… or 'insane'?"

Yomi just may have slipped into a homicidal rage at that moment had she not heard a high-pitched voice sound near the front of the room. "Hi, you guys!" cried Chiyo, the last member of Yomi's group of friends. Despite this girl's diminutive size, she was easily the most intelligent and perceptive person Yomi had ever known.

Unfortunately, Chiyo's acuteness did not show itself just then, as she failed to notice the pail perched above the door she was now leaning against.

"What's up?" the child genius piped up, her mouth widening into a grin as her eyes fell upon her friends. These five girls, however, did not return her gaze, as theirs were currently flitting between the bucket, the door, and Chiyo's tiny body, her orange hair serving almost as a target for the unstable pail above her.

"Uh… Chiyo-chan…" Yomi managed, "Maybe you should move now…"

The little girl cocked her head confusedly, yet rather adorably, as she removed her hand from the door. "Huh? Why? What's going on?"

"Yomi's right," Kagura said, "Really. Get out of the way before that thing hits you."

Chiyo's eyes narrowed suddenly. "Hey, are you guys playing a trick on me?"

"No," Tomo corrected, "On Yukari."

The child genius harrumphed and turned her back to them, crossing her arms stubbornly. "Well, it isn't very funny if you are."

"Chiyo-chan, please."

Everyone turned and saw Sakaki, standing now, walking toward Chiyo, one hand outstretched as though she was trying to reach out for her. "Move away from the door… please?"

Chiyo's arms dropped to her sides as she stared at the older girl. "Sakaki…" she said breathlessly, her voice barely above a whisper. A strange silence grew between the two friends...

One that was immediately cut short by the sound of footsteps coming closer and closer to the room and a woman's voice crying, "Sorry I'm late!"

All eyes turned to the door, and standing behind Chiyo was Yukari, her hands on her knees, panting. Once she had caught her breath, she grinned and said, "I know that I should have been earlier, but…" The teacher paused and rummaged about one of her deep coat pockets. The smile she'd worn barely moments before evaporated as she pulled out ten yen coins, old memos, a few tokens from a recent trip to an arcade with Nyamo, and enough lint to make an old clothes dryer combust. Yukari moved backwards and reached inside another pocket, leaning against the door for support. "Damn it! Where the heck is that video game!"

"Yukari-sensei, are you alright?" Chiyo asked as the teacher pushed against the classroom door, completely oblivious to the fact that, seven feet above her head, a bucket was wobbling about dangerously, seconds away from falling down to the ground below. Finally, with one last shove, it did, sailing toward the floor, its momentum ever-increasing…

In the next instant, it, at long last, made contact…

…with Chiyo's head.

The girl was on the floor in seconds, surrounded by a strange red substance that could only be one thing…

"Kami-sama!" Yomi cried, rushing toward the girl. "She's bleeding!"

At these words, Sakaki blanched and, without a moment's hesitation, took off toward the tiny body on the ground at an even faster rate than Yomi, pumping her arms like the long-distance runner that she was would do, even though Chiyo was only a few feet away. When she reached her, the taller girl sat and rested Chiyo's head on her lap, only to discover…

"She isn't wounded," Sakaki stated, holding the limp body up for inspection.

"Of course she isn't," Tomo said.

Yomi wheeled around, glaring at her. Tomo obviously knew something that she didn't. "What the hell does that mean?"

"That's not blood," Tomo explained, "It's water dyed with red food coloring. Duh."

Yomi was only vaguely aware of the fact that she was now clenching her fists, digging her fingers into the surface of her palms, as she prepared to slug Tomo as hard as she could. She could barely believe that Tomo would sink so low as to something such as that, to worry them all so much only to admit that their energies had all been wasted. "Why you…"

"Aha!"

All of the hysteria that had occurred in the past few seconds was temporarily forgotten as five pairs of eyes turned toward the owner of the voice; Yukari. The woman held a small black box triumphantly over her head, her eyes shimmering like those of a victorious person's in an anime would. "Behold! _Final Fantasy XII_! I waited in line all morning to buy this baby!" She looked away from her prize, her eyes now set on the unmoving form of Chiyo situated on Sakaki's lap, drenched in fake blood. "By the way, what happened to Chiyo-chan?"

The group remained silent for a moment before Osaka finally said, "No, no, no. The question is; what happened to the bowling ball?" Once more, silence overtook the classroom. "I mean, Tomo _said_ there would be one. Did it, like, vanish in midair? 'Cuz I missed it."

Silence again, as everyone who wasn't unconscious marveled at Osaka's bubble-headed-ness. Sakaki shook her head, groaning…

…until she felt something stir on her legs.

Looking down, she saw Chiyo flinch suddenly and open her eyes, gasping for air. "She's awake!" the tall girl cried, prompting her friends and the teacher to crowd around her, peering down at the orange-haired girl as she looked around. In fact, judging by the way her eyes were moving, it looked as though she was confused, had no idea where she was or what had just happened.

"Chiyo-chan, are you okay?" Sakaki asked, taking note of the uncharacteristic shimmer in her friend's eyes.

What Chiyo said next shocked all of them.

"Chiyo… is… that my name? And…

"Who are all of you?"

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**End chapter. **Please leave a review telling me what you think. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Also, I'm not sure if I got the (few) name suffixes I included correct, so, if you could clarify that for me, that'd be great. I'll start working on the next chapter soon. Bye for now! 


	2. Memory Loss

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, especially to those who included constructive criticism and nitpicks. Both of those things are appreciated _very _much.

Now, a few notes about this chapter; first, in this chappie, I've sort of made the transition from descriptions to dialogue. Azumanga Daioh is an anime that centers around back-and-forth conversation between the characters, so this was my attempt to duplicate that effect. Tell me if I pulled it off, 'kay? Second, yes I am aware that _Final Fantasy XII_ hasn't come out yet; I just needed to use _something_. Just bear with me on that, alright? Finally, most of the past events described in this fic are drawn from those described in the manga. I've only seen a few episodes of the anime so, if something seems unfamiliar in this story, just assume that it was included in the comic. With that said, please enjoy chapter two!

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**Chapter Two: Memory Loss**

Six pairs of eyes blinked down at Chiyo, their owners too surprised at her last words to do much else.

_"Chiyo… is… that my name? And… who are all of you?"_

Out of everyone present, Sakaki was the one who was able to believe the events of the past few minutes the least. Chiyo, kindhearted, naïve, intelligent Chiyo, couldn't remember who she was? That was inconceivable! She was way too smart to forget that easily. No! It just couldn't happen…

A snort jolted Sakaki from her thoughts, and, turning, her eyes fell upon Tomo, the short-haired girl obviously trying to suppress the laughter creeping up her throat. After a moment of struggle, she gave way, giggling uncontrollably, much to everyone, especially Chiyo's, confusion.

"Bwahahahaha! That's a good one, Chiyo-chan!" Tomo said, brushing away a tear from her eye, "I mean, I thought _I_ was being clever with that whole 'bucket of water on Yukari's head' thing, but pretending to lose your memory… that's the best April Fool's joke in the world!"

In the next instant, Tomo was sent crashing to the ground courtesy of Yomi, brandishing the enormous bucket as though it was a deadly weapon. "_Baka_! She's not kidding!"

"Of course she is!" Tomo fought back, rubbing the newly-formed lump on her head pretentiously, "It's April Fool's Day!"

Yomi dropped the bucket and threw her arms up in frustration, looking as though she was about to start foaming at the mouth and strangling her tormenter. "It's not frigging April Fool's Day!"

"Um… what's going on?" Chiyo asked quietly from Sakaki's lap, causing everyone to turn away from the aggravated Yomi and back to the situation at hand.

After a second, Sakaki said, "Chiyo-chan… can you really not remember anything?"

The little girl shook her head, pigtails waving. "No. Nothing, um… what's your name?"

"Sakaki."

"Right. Sakaki." Looking around, Chiyo then inquired, "And… who are they?"

Sakaki pointed at each one as she said their name. "That's Kagura, Osaka, Yomi, Tomo, and…"

"'World Leader'," Yukari said as Sakaki gestured toward her, the sensei's face reflecting great seriousness.

Kagura snorted. "You wish."

Sakaki shook her head, her dark tendrils whapping Chiyo slightly as she did so. "No. That's Yukari. She's our teacher."

"Teacher…" Chiyo whispered, trying to embed the knowledge she'd just obtained into her head, "Teacher…" She then repeated this process with each girl, locking her eyes with theirs, trying to commit every name to memory. "Yomi… Yomi… Kagura… Kagura… Osaka… Osaka… Tomo… To…"

"So, you really don't know who I am?" Tomo said, leaning down so that she was at Chiyo's level.

"Uh-huh."

Tomo placed a hand over her heart and gasped, clearly taken aback. "Th… then you don't remember… your unconditional worship of me!" The hyperactive female gesticulated wildly as she spoke, looking as earnest as she'd ever been. "You don't recall how you used to follow me around wherever I went, saying, 'Tomo! You are my master!' You don't remember how, whenever I strode into the room, you would bow before me, aware of your unworthiness of my presence? You don't…"

_CRASH!_

A second bump formed on Tomo's head right alongside the first.

"The important thing," Yomi said after she set down the pail and finished glaring at her friend, "Is that we now know that Chiyo-chan's lost her memory."

"So what do we do about that?" Kagura asked.

"Get it back, of course," Yomi declared, "Chiyo-chan is our friend, after all. I'm sure that, if one of us lost our memories, she'd do the same thing."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Kagura said, smiling and clenching a fist of determination. "You know what? I say we help get Chiyo-chan to remember!"

"Yeah!" Tomo cried, her fist in the air as well. At this, Osaka threw both of her arms up, too, saying, "Banzai!" as Sakaki nodded along in agreement. Even Yukari seemed to smile down at the ground of friends, approving of their dedication in helping their beloved Chiyo remember everything.

Yomi bowed her head, still grinning herself. "Yeah… let's do it…"

At this point, the final bell rang, signaling the start of homeroom. Yukari turned toward the noise and said, "Okay, you guys go do that. Um… I'm going to go play my video game now…"

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Yomi asked, any evidence of her former good mood completely gone from her countenance. "Don't you have a class to teach?"

"Some teacher you are," Kagura added, rolling her eyes.

With a grumble, Yukari made her way to the front of the room to take attendance and to (reluctantly) assume the responsibilities of a woman of her profession. But, of course, seeing as she _was_ Yukari, these things often included mocking her students, slacking off, and avoiding answering any questions her pupils would have. However, nothing Yukari did mattered to one person, the young woman who was staring at Chiyo, the little girl, unlike everyone else in class, not having any paper of materials she would need for school out on her desk. Sakaki sighed at her friend's predicament, but, thinking back to her comrades' words, immediately lightened up. _Don't worry Chiyo-chan… we'll get your memory back soon…

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"In today's class, we will cover parts of speech," Yukari declared at the beginning of English. After three attempted escapes from the classroom to play _Final Fantasy XII_—two of which were thwarted by Mr. Kimura, who "just so happened" to be in the area at the time—it appeared that the teacher had finally decided to do what her title dictated. She scrawled a sentence on the board—_Mary is going to the clothing store_—and, turning back toward her class, stated, "There are two subjects in the sentence I've just written. Would someone like to identify them?" A few students raised their hands far above the sea of heads; this was by far one of the easiest questions their professor had asked all year. Scanning each of the children's faces, Yukari settled on one in particular—one who did not have their hand up, one who was instead blinking confusedly at the board…

"Chiyo-chan."

The little girl cocked her head at the sound of her name. "W… what?"

Yukari crossed her arms and smiled in a way that could very well be perceived as evil. "Go on, Chiyo-chan; answer the question. What are the subjects in the sentence?"

The until-recently prodigy made a small noise in the back of her throat and quivered, partly because she had no idea what to say, and partly because the woman at the front of the room was looking at her so strangely. Her moist eyes scanned the foreign words on the board, trying to pick out one that at least _seemed _correct. However, what with her now-identified retrograde amnesia, she couldn't know for sure, as any knowledge of the English language she had possessed in the past had been wiped away from her brain. "Um… I… um… is one… Mary?" Chiyo closed her eyes, waiting for Yukari to laugh and scold her for an incorrect answer as her peers pointed, cackled, jeered, ridiculed…

But the mockery never came.

Instead, she was met with the sensei's now furious gaze and a growl of frustration. Yukari slammed her hands on the desk in front of her, her eyes narrowed, looking as though she was about to hurdle over the table. "You got it _right_?" she screeched, her mouth opened so wide, it would do Mr. Kimura's to shame. "You have no memory about English, and you still got it _right_?"

"E… eh?" Now Chiyo shook even more than before.

"You were supposed to get that wrong," Yukari continued, accusatory finger pointed at the little girl, "So that we could all laugh at you. Don't be so smart next time, you little…"

"Hey," Kagura whispered to her companions nearby, all of whom save Chiyo were tuning out the enraged teacher as best they could, "Isn't the point of English class to get the answers to the teacher's questions _right_?"

Yomi groaned, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "It is, but, knowing Yukari, she probably just wanted to torment Chiyo-chan."

"Though I don't blame her too much," Tomo said, a thoughtful finger tapping against her lower lip.

"What the hell does that mean?" 

The hyperactive girl shrugged. "You know when you see a row of dominoes and you get the urge to make one fall over, just to see what happens?"

"Uh… no…" Kagura commented as Yomi and Sakaki simultaneously shook their heads. Osaka, however, leaned forward, eyes spread wide, almost as though she was under a spell. "Yeah… yeah…" she murmured, her mouth pulling upwards into a warped smile.

"Yukari just got that same urge," Tomo said, "To torment Chiyo-chan because she lost her memory—just to see what would happen."

"Yeah!" Osaka said, literally bouncing in her seat now. Yomi spared a glance her way, mumbling, "What the hell's gotten into you?"

"But Yukari didn't count on one thing."

It took nearly everyone a moment to place the voice, one they hadn't heard for quite some time; it was Sakaki's.

The big-breasted girl looked down at her desk, flushing at the newfound attention. "Chiyo-chan is… well, Chiyo-chan," she said quietly, suddenly finding the lined paper in front of her very interesting. "Even though her memory's gone, she's still the same person. She can still answer Yukari's problems correctly because her smart personality… it's still there. No bump on the head could ever change Chiyo-chan." The pencil Sakaki clutched suddenly broke in two, and the girl held the splintered pieces, barely even feeling them cut into her skin. Right now, her mind was on Chiyo and what she could possibly do for her, for the friend she cared about so much. "I… I really want to help her… I want her to get her memory back!"

"Sakaki…" Kagura whispered, shocked at the young woman's expression. Normally, by now, the athlete would have suggested that she and Sakaki make getting Chiyo's memory back a competition, but in this moment, had she said anything, she felt nearly certain that Sakaki would have creamed her.

Sakaki looked up at her friends, the blush now gone from her cheeks, a set look in her eyes. "Let's… do that…"

The girls were silent for a moment, quietly agreeing with the tall girl's words. After a moment, Osaka said, "So, where do we start looking?"

"Huh?"

The Osakan shrugged her shoulders, the same clueless look ever-present on her façade. "Well, if Chiyo-chan's 'lost' her memory, we need to find it, right? If she was by the door to the classroom when it went missing, maybe we should start searching there."

Yomi shook her head, about to explain to her friend that she was mistaken, but she promptly shut her mouth before any words had a chance to form themselves. Attempting to make Osaka understand anything more complicated than "two plus two equals four" was typically a lost cause. Instead, she turned to the remaining members of her group and asked, "So, does anyone have a suggestion about what we should do about Chiyo-chan's plight?"

Tomo raised her hand. "Oh, I know!" she said, "Let's hang her out the window upside-down!"

"What the hell is that going to accomplish?"

"It worked for the track meet, didn't it?"

"No… actually it didn't. And even if it did, just hanging someone upside-down isn't going to _do_ anything."

Tomo rolled her eyes. "What are you complaining about? You asked for an idea and I gave you one."

"A crappy one," Yomi pointed out, already completely worn from the past ten second's conversation with Tomo. However, no sooner did she think that her friend had shut up did Tomo say, "Hey, you wanna know what I think?"

"What?" Yomi said. _Oh, Kami-sama, what am I getting myself into?_

"You know that Chiyo-chan got her amnesia by getting hit on the head by a bucket, right?" Tomo said, leaning forward, speaking with that same tone of voice she had before. Yomi flinched, but didn't say anything. "Well…" Tomo continued, "All we have to do is hit her in the same spot as before and she'll get her memory back!"

Yomi was about to put her friend into a stranglehold when Kagura beat her to the punch. "Are you _insane_? She won't be any before off than she was before!"

"Oh, and I suppose _you've_ thought of something better?"

"'Course I have!" Kagura declared, crossing her arms and smirking smugly. It wasn't long before that grin began to fade, one finger in the air, trying to think. "Uh… uh…"

"Ah-hah! I knew it! You're empty, aren't you?"

"Will you shut up?"

"No!"

"Argh, you're such a _baka_!"

"Heh heh… you're one to talk," Tomo said, whipping Kagura into an even bigger frenzy. Yomi watched from the sidelines as the two battled it out, her gaze occasionally flitting to Sakaki, still holding the ruined pencil in her now-white fist, the bubble-headed Osakan crawling underneath a desk in search of something she would not find, and Chiyo, sitting confusedly at her desk. The bespectacled girl groaned, one hand pressed to her forehead in hopes that the touch would cure the headache that had claimed her. _This is going to be a _lot_ more difficult than I thought…

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_

...and that's it!** End chapter. **Please leave a review, and I'll get to work on chapter three as soon as possible!


	3. Bonkura Unite!

Hello, again! I apologize for the wait; I didn't have much inspiration for this chapter, even though I'd planned most of the events that occur in it out. But, despite that, it's here… I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed this fic; I really enjoyed reading your comments, and took them into consideration while writing this. I'm sure you know who you are. Just an outlook for the future: I'm thinking that this story will be five chapters long, making two more to go after this one. So, without further ado, here it is. Enjoy!

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**Chapter Three: Bonkura Unite!**

Kurosawa Minamo pulled open the door to the faculty room, cup of InstaRamen in hand. After a long, exhausting morning—she _did_ teach gym, after all—she was ready to start her lunch break and planned to savor every moment of it with her best friend in the entire world, Tanizaki Yukari.

In fact, said friend was already there, looking out a window with a bored look on her face. When she heard the door open, the English teacher's gaze slid Minamo's way, and she croaked, "I'm hungry. Can I borrow a few hundred yen for lunch?"

Minamo felt a vein bulge on her forehead. Yukari's definition of "borrow" alternated between "take and conveniently forget to give back" or "steal due to an unfair bet". But, hey, what were friends for? And best friends, no less. "Sure," Minamo said with a smile as she produced her wallet from a pocket, "How much do you need?"

Yukari tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I was thinking about getting _fukahire_, so… figure about nine hundred yen?"

The P.E. teacher sighed, promptly putting her wallet away and out of her friend's greedy reach. "Can you really buy shark's fin in a school cafeteria?"

"It was worth a try," she responded, shrugging. "So, what's up?"

"Not a whole lot, actually," Minamo said, sitting down across from her colleague and opening her ramen cup. "Though, come to think of it, some of the students in your class were acting strangely in gym today."

"How's _that_ news to you?"

Minamo chose to ignore this interjection and continued, "I decided earlier that, since it's been so nice out lately, I'd take the class outside to play volleyball. As soon as we got out there, Tomo picked up a ball and started chasing Chiyo-chan around with it, trying to… well, I think she wanted to hit her over the head with it or something. Any ideas why?"

"No clue," Yukari said, shifting her brown eyes back to the window, "Thought it _may_ have something to do with the fact that Chiyo-chan lost her memory earlier…"

Minamo nearly choked on her mouthful of noodles. "What was that?"

"She got hit in the head with a bucket and got amnesia," Yukari stated impassively, "Nothing to lose your lunch over."

"Are you _kidding_?" Miss Kurosawa asked, wiping her mouth on a sleeve, "That's head trauma right there! Chiyo-chan could have gotten a concussion or… or something far worse! She could be in big trouble right now! And you let her stay in school!"

"'Course I did!" Yukari exclaimed. "She's a genius; she'll pull through."

"A _genius_! If she's lost her memory, doesn't that mean that the shrewd part of her brain's been completely wiped?"

"How should I know? Do I _look_ like a doctor?"

"Of course you don't! That's why the girl needs medical attention right now!"

Yukari blinked. "You're so uptight, Nyamo; you should relax more. Chiyo-chan's been entirely herself in class, so I'm sure she'll pull through in the end; she always does. And, besides, with the help of her friends behind her, I'm sure that'll happen all the faster."

Nyamo's eyes widened, shocked at her friend's speech. "Do you really think so?" she asked, her former agitation forgotten.

"Nah, Tomo's probably going to screw it all up somehow and the world will go to hell," Yukari said with a flippant wave of her hand. Miss Kurosawa groaned, wondering briefly why she'd befriended such a moron, before glancing over at a wall phone not ten feet away. She could—no, _should_—call a doctor right now and try to get him or her to treat Chiyo. While she had, according to Yukari, been acting normally, there was probably some brain disease out there with a really long name that lay dormant in its victim for a few days before it activated itself and struck them dead on. But, somehow, for some reason, she didn't. Yukari had been too persuasive before. Sighing, Minamo folded her arms. _One day_, she thought, _I'll give Chiyo-chan one day. If nothing substantial happens, I'll call a specialist. And yet…_

_…somehow, I think this whole issue will be resolved before then.

* * *

_

"So… that's how I split them?" Chiyo asked, peering down at the _waribashi_ chopsticks on her lunch tray.

"Yup, that's all ya hafta do!" Osaka said, picking up her own eating utensils. Having finally figured out that memory was not a material object that could simply be found or replaced, the Osakan had taken it upon herself to instruct Chiyo how to do properly pull apart her chopsticks—after all, if she wanted to be a teacher someday, she'd need all the practice she could get.

"Just grab them at the ends," Osaka counseled, performing the task along with her, "And slooooowly pull apart."

"Slooooowly…" the pig-tailed girl repeated, almost as though she was in a trance, as she separated the chopsticks fiber by fiber. "Slooooowly…. slooooowly… slooooowly…"

"OH MY GOD!" Tomo cried, jumping up from her seat. Chiyo jerked at the sudden volume, causing her chopsticks to break unevenly, clearly—to all on-lookers, at least—the outcome Tomo had desired. Looking upon them, the twelve-year-old felt tears well up in her eyes. "I didn't do it right…"

"Aw, Chiyo-chan, don't worry, we love ya anyway!" Tomo bubbled, smacking her shoulder comfortingly—and, in all honesty, _painfully_. After taking a moment to roll her eyes in her friends' direction, Yomi turned back to the remaining members in her posse and said, "So we still haven't decided our course of action; how do we get Chiyo-chan's memory back?"

"I heard somewhere that, if you eat a spicy-enough piece of food, it can help improve your short-term memory," Kagura suggested, her way-too-wide smile giving away that she wasn't taking the whole situation seriously. However, at this, Osaka's eyes had, taken on a strange gleam, much like that of a killer's in the middle of a crowd, or an evil villain's from a movie from the twenties… or, for that matter, Tomo's when she was thinking something devious. And, seeing as the Osakan's gaze kept flitting between Chiyo and Yomi's plate of curry—specially-ordered, seeing as no one but her could eat such zesty stuff—there certainly _had_ to be some devious thoughts floating around in that occasionally-empty brain of hers…

Osaka's eyes remained glued to Chiyo as she picked up her chopsticks and groped about blindly for a piece of meat from Yomi's plate, calling, "Hey Chiyo-cha…!"

With lightning-quick reflexes, Kagura lashed out her arm and pinned Osaka's chopstick hand to the table where it squirmed under the athlete's tight grip. "You know… come to think of it, I think I read that in a… a tabloid at the supermarket, or something… 's not true…" Kagura mumbled, sheepishly scratching the back of her head with her free hand.

The space cadet looked longingly at the bowl of curry for another moment before saying, "Oh, well," and plopping back down in her seat, resuming her blank stare and deadpan façade. Giving her one last look, Yomi said, "Yeah… right… so back to the suggestions…"

Without warning, Osaka snapped her fingers and said, "Aha! I hit a homerun with this one!"

"Oh, Kami-sama, not the homeruns again," Yomi groaned, allowing her head to sink deeply into her hands. _Very_ deeply.

Taking no notice of the bespectacled girl, Osaka continued, "I think that all Chiyo-chan has to do is drink water!"

"That's it?" Tomo asked.

"Yup; I think I read it in a tabloid somewhere."

"Uh… you want me to drink water?" Chiyo said, still a tad confused about what was going on. Eventually, though, she decided that water was water and nothing that bad could really come out of drinking it. Shrugging, the once-child-genius picked up the cup in front of her and downed the liquid inside in one go. Osaka, Tomo, and Kagura crowded around her expectantly as she set down the cannikin, eyes widened with anticipation. "Well…?" said Tomo.

"Uh… nothing's happening…" Chiyo responded.

"No, no, don't worry; I've got more!" Osaka piped up. "Okay, I think that, if she holds her breath for long enough, pretty soon the memories will all come flooding back!"

"Hold her _breath_?" Yomi echoed skeptically from her seat.

"Yeah, that's what the tabloid said, and tabloids don't lie!"

"Of _course_ they do," Yomi retorted, though this was barely heard, as Osaka and the band of _bonkuras_' attentions had since returned to Chiyo. The little girl's face, in the past five seconds, had turned from her normal skin tone to a red that rivaled that of the school's winter uniform. After another ten, she let out the air in her oxygen-deprived lungs, gasping for the life-sustaining substance. "That was… I need… I still don't remember anything!" she managed, moisture returning to her eyes for the umpteenth time that day.

Waving her hands madly, Osaka said, "Hold up! There's more stuff we can do! We can… um… oh, yeah! Apply pressure to her eyes!"

This responsibility was immediately bestowed upon Tomo. By herself, yes, but, nonetheless, bestowed. As the hyperactive female pushed down on Chiyo's face as hard as she could, Sakaki quirked an eyebrow. Drink water? Hold her breath? Put pressure on her eyes? It all sounded familiar somehow…

"It didn't work again," Kagura observed, looking down at the even more traumatized Chiyo. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah, there is!" Osaka declared. "Another way to get memory back is to punch the victim's stomach as hard as you can!"

Kagura shrugged. "'Kay." The dark-skinned athlete pulled back her fist and was just about to make contact with the quavering Chiyo when Yomi sprung up from her seat and caught her arm, immediately stopping her momentum. "That's quite enough of this, now!"

In the meantime, Sakaki had flashed back to a memory from two summers ago, thus figuring out what had been bothering her. "Osaka, the things you just said… those are cures for the _hiccups_, not for amnesia… though I'm not so sure about that punching one…"

"Oh," Osaka said, a little disappointed, "Sorry 'bout that. I tend to get things like that confused."

"So we've noticed," Yomi mumbled. Behind the titian-haired girl's body, Sakaki leaned forward in her seat to get a better look at Chiyo. Right now… she just looked so… _lost_. So helpless. So… so _unsure_…

Leaning back, the cat-loving girl crossed her arms and made herself comfortable, continuing to mull over her friend's dilemma. _Amnesia_, she mused, _is a condition, not a disease that can be cured easily. Chiyo-chan's just going to have to remember her past on her own; that's all there is to it. Though…_

_…knowing her, there must be some other way, I'm sure of it. There must be some way that we can get her memories to resurface without the need of years of waiting or medical treatment. There _has_ to be…_

Suddenly standing, Sakaki found her mouth forming words though her brain hadn't fully pieced together the puzzle that was Chiyo's predicament. "I… I think I know a way to get Chiyo-chan's memory back."

The entire group of girls, even Chiyo herself, turned at this new discovery, their gaze all laying on one person. Though Sakaki shifted a bit under their intense stares, her voice held firm. "Meet me outside after school today; we'll cure Chiyo-chan's amnesia then. I just know that this is the answer…"

* * *

**End chapter. **Thanks for reading! Please don't forget to review! 


	4. Attempted Remembrance

At long last, I've released this chapter. I'd like to thank everyone who has read this so far and put up with my slow updating; I hope you enjoy this!

* * *

**Chapter Four: Attempted Remembrance**

With a snarl like a wild woman's, Yukari slammed the chalk down on its designated tray by the blackboard, pointedly ignoring the stares she received from her pupils. She remained hunched over the writing implement for a beat before turning around and flashing a smile at her class. "Okay, kids!" she said perkily—_too_ perkily. "That's it for today; you're all dismissed."

Two seconds and a glance at the wall clock later, Tomo raised her hand. "Hey, Yukari!" she said, not waiting for her teacher to call on her. "We've still got ten minutes before the final bell rings. What are you…"

A glare sent her way promptly shut the wildcat up. This look was immediately replaced by the sweet smile soon enough, however, and, with a final, "Buh-bye!" Yukari dashed out of the classroom in a flurry of papers. Shrugging, her students rose from their seats and left, chatting about the day's events or the "quirks", as they were euphemized, of their teacher.

Yomi sighed from her desk and shook her head knowingly. "She probably just wanted to start playing _Final Fantasy XII_ is all," she mumbled half to herself.

"Yeah…" Kagura replied. A moment later, her eyes lit up, and she said, "Oh, yeah! Weren't we going to meet Sakaki outside of school today?"

"Oh, right," Yomi said, scanning the room for her friend. "Hey, Sakaki, we're ready to… huh? Where is she?"

Tomo, who had been standing by the window for the past minute, glanced outside, clearly bored, and saw… "Hey, guys!"

"What is it now?" Yomi groaned, already exasperated.

Tomo pointed out the window. "Sakaki and Chiyo-chan are already out there!"

"Huh?" The sound escaped the lips of Kagura and Yomi simultaneously, and they both turned toward the window in twin movements of surprise and curiosity. Sure enough, the tall girl stood outside, school materials in hand, clutching Chiyo close to her. Sakaki stayed completely still, a set look on her face, as she held the girl, who flushed and trembled beneath unmoving fingers. It wasn't their overall position that had surprised the girls, though; it had been the fact that, for once, Tomo had told the whole truth.

"I really don't know what to say…" breathed Yomi, still in disbelief.

"Me either," agreed the athlete.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" cried Tomo, reverting back to hyperactive mode. "Let's meet them!"

"'Kay…" came Yomi's distant reply.

"Wait, what?"

The three girls turned and, in doing so, stared right into the bleary eyes of Osaka. She rubbed one and yawned, saying, "Guess I fell asleep. What's happening?"

"We're going to go meet Sakaki and Chiyo-chan outside," Yomi reminded.

"Oh, yeah," Osaka said, smiling not-as-wearily. "I remember us talkin' 'bout that."

"It's a miracle you can remember _anything_," Kagura muttered, starting for the door, Tomo, Yomi, and Osaka following suit. Outside, Sakaki checked her watch, impatience written over her usually stoic features, as she waited for her friends to arrive… and for Chiyo's recollection to begin.

* * *

"Here we are at the Mihama residence," Tomo called out once the house was in sight, making a sweeping motion with her hand toward it. "Home to one twelve-year-old genius and her family!" 

Chiyo's eyes widened visibly. "I… I live _here_!"

"Yup!"

"But… it's so… _big_!"

"I know, isn't it?" the energetic girl replied, crossing her arms and smiling smugly. In response to this, Kagura turned toward her and said, "What the heck is that smirk for? It's _her_ house, not yours."

"Ch," Tomo said as she dropped her arms and walked toward the house. "You're just jealous."

"Oh for the love of…" Kagura started, though she trailed off soon enough. She took a deep breath and followed after Tomo. _Just ignore her,_ she thought, inhaling again. _Don't listen to her at all._

In the meantime, Sakaki opened the front gate, her gaze darting about the large front lawn that greeted her. In the cafeteria before, she'd come to the conclusion that Chiyo had lived on the grounds she was presently standing on her entire life; if something here couldn't jog her memory, Sakaki had no clue what could. Still, that didn't mean that, even if her plan did fail, she would give up that easily. No; she would do whatever it took to get Chiyo to remember…

After a moment, Sakaki found what she'd been looking for. Glancing back toward her friends—Kagura and Yomi were in the middle of a light conversation while Osaka was trying to teach Tomo the proper way to say "Fuhgedaboutit"—Sakaki said, "Um… shouldn't we try to get Chiyo-chan's memory back now?"

"That's why we came here," Yomi said. "What was your idea, Sakaki?"

Sakaki turned her face toward a tree on the lawn, mumbling, "Him." All five girls walked to one side of her, trying to see what she did. Finally, their eyes landed on a white mass beneath the tree, a mass whose shimmering black eyes stared expectantly at them, its pink tongue lolling out of one side of its fanged mouth…

"That's… a dog?" Chiyo questioned, confused as ever.

"Banzai!" This came from Osaka, who threw her hands in the air triumphantly.

"Yes, a dog," Sakaki continued, remaining still. "He's yours. His name is Mr. Tadakichi."

"Mr.… Tadakichi…" murmured the pigtailed girl.

"Banzai!" Another whoop from Osaka.

"And he's mine?"

"Ban…"

"Will you shut up?" shouted Yomi.

"Do you remember him?" Sakaki went on, her eyes sliding in Chiyo's direction.

The once-prodigy shook her head. "No… but… can I… introduce myself?"

Chiyo interpreted the tall girl's silence as a yes and took a step toward the animal. She reached out a hand to him, prompting Mr. Tadakichi to get up and trot toward her, tail wagging. Chiyo recoiled at the motion, but kept her hand outstretched, her fingertips shaking. "Mr. Tadakichi…" she mumbled, unsure of how the animal would respond should she make contact, "Mr. Tadakichi… Mr. Tadakichi…"

Once he reached his mistress, the dog pressed his nose into her hand and licked it, coating her nails with a thin layer of saliva. Chiyo flinched slightly at the touch, but, once she realized that the dog would not harm her, brought up her other hand and patted his head, ruffling the snowy fur underneath. A tiny smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, and she whispered, "Mr. Tadakichi …"

Though she didn't wish to break up this tender moment between pet and master, Sakaki said, "Um… Chiyo-chan… do you not remember Mr. Tadakichi?"

Chiyo paused for a second and then shook her head. "No… no, I'm sorry… I don't…"

Sakaki tried a smile, though the end result was more than a little misshapen. "It's alright… really. There's a houseful of things here that are bound to make you remember. Would you… like to see them?"

At that moment, Sakaki's voice changed. No longer was she a girl who hid behind a mask of stoicism. No longer was she the "cool" chick many of her classmates looked up to and admired. No. Now, she was a young woman, one who, despite the fact that Chiyo's remembrance of everything was unlikely, was still hopeful for her recovery. Chiyo donned a smile wide enough to convince her that everything would be alright, and said, "Yes, please… Miss Sakaki?"

It was all Sakaki could do to keep herself from sucking in her breath through the hole that her mouth had become. _Miss Sakaki …_ Her name, plus a term indicating great respect… Chiyo's name for _her_. Now, Sakaki really was smiling. "Let's go inside, then."

And, as the two made their way to the front door, pulling the portal open, their four friends following on their heels soon after, Sakaki realized that, though Chiyo still hadn't acquired her memory, allowing her to pet Mr. Tadakichi had somehow awakened a part of her that, for the majority of that day, had been laying dormant, desperately trying to break through the surface of confusion and lethe. And Sakaki knew; Chiyo _would_ get her memory back; she _would_ remember who she was and the entirety of her past; and, without question, Sakaki herself _would_ be there when she did.

* * *

Photo albums. 

Video tapes.

Antiquities.

Trinkets.

Old drawings from childhood past and present.

Sources of blackmail? Yes. Tomo especially realized this and chose to exploit this goldmine of memories waiting to be recovered and, instead of helping out Chiyo, collected certain items for her own questionable uses.

But did these things themselves bring the memories back? No.

In a few hours' time, the group of girls had traveled from room to room of the house, touching a few objects that looked as though they held some sentimental value that could help rid them of the presence of "amnesiac Chiyo-chan", as Kagura had dubbed her. At each item, one friend would say something along the lines of, "Do you remember this?" or, "Does this bring back memories?" or, in the case of some, "Banzai, Chiyo-chan!" The answer to all? "No, I'm sorry."

While Sakaki and Yomi, especially, would simply nod their heads at this and move onto the next potential memory, Tomo would make a remark such as, "Aw, shucks! Can't she remember _anything_?" Kagura could almost see Chiyo's disrespect for the short-haired girl reflecting in her eyes.

By the time seven o'clock rolled around, the gaggle had reached the final room of the house, the only one that hadn't been searched; Chiyo's room itself. No sooner had Osaka opened the door did Tomo plop herself down on Chiyo's bed, groaning. "Oh, man, am I bushed! Are we done yet?"

"Heck no, we aren't," Yomi said, whapping her friend upon the head slightly with a stray stuffed animal.

"But I'm _bored_," Tomo whined.

"So help us out with Chiyo-chan's problem and you won't be bored anymore."

Her response was a sigh from Tomo, who had since turned onto her belly, and a muffled noise that sounded something like, "No…"

"So, this is it," Kagura said, not even sparing a look in her fellow _bonkura_'s direction. "This is your room."

"Does it look familiar?" This came from Sakaki.

"Uh… no… I…"

"You don't have to apologize," Yomi cut in. "Here, let's show you around." The bespectacled girl made her way over to a pile of stuffed cats to one side of Chiyo's bed. She smiled fondly at them, remembering that, two years ago, when Chiyo had invited her friends over to celebrate her eleventh birthday, nearly all of the guests had given her some variation of a stuffed animal. The question was, though, would _Chiyo_ remember it?

Yomi picked up a tiny white cat with a wide, felt mouth. "This is Monpuchi," she said. Sakaki, who had given her the toy in the first place, nodded in verification. She wanted to add, "Monpuchi is a girl and is the youngest of her family," but knew in her heart that that would bee too much information for Chiyo to handle. Instead, she stated, "I… I gave it to you two years ago…"

Chiyo whipped around to look at the taller girl, and Sakaki vaguely saw her eyes grow wide and her chest expand as she sharply took in air. A second later, Chiyo bowed her head, pigtails drooping low. Her body language was enough to confirm that Monpuchi didn't ring any bells in the hollow that was her past.

Sakaki's gaze traveled back to the pile, falling on one cat in particular. That one, fat and orange, was Osaka's gift to the amnesiac, Chiyo-chichi. Of course, Sakaki knew that Chiyo's _real_ dad was away on a business trip, wife in tow, but that still didn't stop her from believing that this was her father. She sighed, half-wishing that this chubby blob of feline was her dad; perhaps he could have helped Chiyo recover her memories…

But it wasn't.

It was just a stuffed animal.

Stuffed animals couldn't do anything, Sakaki reluctantly admitted.

They just wouldn't make Chiyo remember…

But she still couldn't lose hope.

She couldn't surrender, thinking that her friend would forget so easily…

And so, Sakaki, in an attempt to stay confident, made a full sweep of Chiyo's room, showing her baseball players' autographs, photos from their vacations to her summer home (including a few embarrassing shots that Tomo immediately snatched up, despite her previous exhaustion), and even Maya, Sakaki's Iriomote cat, who had wandered into the room at one point.

And, though "amnesiac Chiyo-chan" persisted, saying that nothing—_nothing_—brought back memories, no one disheartened.

Especially not Sakaki.

However, by eight o' clock, it became apparent that Chiyo herself was becoming both tired and discouraged. The former was understandable, as the girl was normally on a strict early-to-bed-early-to-rise schedule. But the latter…

Eventually, Sakaki noticed Chiyo yawn, though the movement didn't even begin to hide the tears in her eyes. The dark-haired girl said, "I… I think Chiyo-chan's had enough for the night. Should I walk you guys home?"

Yomi was the only one of the group to respond. "Nah. Sakaki, I think it would be best if you stay here with Chiyo-chan for the night. We'll be fine from here on out."

After a moment's hesitation, Sakaki nodded her agreement, asking Kagura, who lived closest to her house, to tell her mother that she would be elsewhere that evening. Five minutes later, the four girls took their leave of the building. Once they were gone, Chiyo said, "Miss Sakaki, I'm sorry I couldn't remember. I just…"

"It's alright, Chiyo-chan. You'll be okay, I promise."

"No…" Chiyo paused. Was that a blush on her cheeks? "No, it's not that. I… I just don't want to disappoint you…"

Sakaki turned her head abruptly. So _that_ was it? That was why she had been fretting so much ever since they'd stepped onto the lawn? That…

Sakaki interrupted her own thought process by saying, "It's fine. I'm not the one you should worry about. You… well… you're my greatest concern as of right now."

Silence. "Miss Sakaki…"

"Is there anything you need?" asked Sakaki suddenly. "Are you hungry? Tired?"

Chiyo, in recognizing that Sakaki was trying to be helpful, smiled slightly. "All I really want is to go to bed now…"

"Alright. Do you need help finding your clothing or brushing your teeth or…"

"No… I'll be fine."

Sakaki nodded. "Okay, then." At that, she headed for the door. Due to her frequent visits to the Mihama estate, Sakaki had a guestroom at the end of the hallway set aside for her, toiletries and a set of pajamas included.

"Wait… where are you going, Miss Sakaki?"

The older girl paused. "To my room. I'll be sleeping in there tonight."

"Um… actually…" Chiyo shifted from foot to foot and fingered the end of one of her pigtails. "I'd prefer it if you… sleep in here… with me… please…"

The pause that ensued was momentary, though to the two, it seemed endless. Finally, a response. "A… alright… just… let me change…"

Chiyo smiled. "'Kay."

Another smile. "O… okay…"

Fifteen minutes found Sakaki sprawled out on one side of Chiyo's bed, already breathing heavily and clutching both "Chiyo-chichi" and Maya to her pajama-clad bosom. Chiyo watched her quietly. Of all the girls she'd met today, she'd liked Sakaki the most. She seemed really kind and concerned for her and was really willing to help out. She had an air about her that made her much more… respectable; likeable; sister-like, even.

Chiyo grinned again. What was it about Sakaki that made her like her so? Had her relationship with her been different when she had had all of her memories? And, if it had, how?

The girl sighed, falling backwards onto the pillows. No matter how many questions she asked herself, no matter how hard she thought, no matter how hard she tried to remember… she always came up blank; _empty_. That was all there was to it.

She just couldn't remember.

But then…

If this was the case, Sakaki would be disappointed; disappointed in _her_.

Chiyo didn't want that.

Beneath her blanket, Chiyo clenched her fists. _Tomorrow_, she decided, _I'm really going to try to remember. I'll do it for her, for Miss Sakaki. I know I can if I try hard enough. And then I'll be happy._

_Happy with Miss Sakaki._

Her eyes slid closed, and she smiled sleepily.

_Yeah… with Miss Sakaki…_

And, right before her dreams overtook her, Chiyo reached over toward her pile of cats and grabbed onto Monpuchi, Sakaki's gift to her—not to "amnesiac Chiyo-chan"; to _her_—and pulled it close, grinning even as she journeyed through the subconscious.

* * *

**End chapter.** Don't forget to leave a review. Thank you for reading! 


	5. To Recall

Well, here it is; the final chapter. Wow, I'm not sure whether I should be jumping for joy or staring at the computer screen with a faraway look in my eyes… Well, please enjoy regardless.

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**Chapter Five: To Recall**

Yomi strode down the hallway, barely managing to stifle a yawn. Between trying to help an amnesiac recover her memories and having to endure Tomo's shoving of a disturbing photograph in her face the night previous, she had slept little and, at that, restlessly. If she would have to put up with this torture every evening in order to get Chiyo to remember, Yomi couldn't help but wonder if her sacrifice of a good night's sleep was worth her recollection.

"Hey, Mizuhara!" A taller figure made her way toward Yomi, who said, "Hello, Kurosawa-sensei. How are y…"

"Good, I'm good. Has Chiyo-chan gotten her memory back?"

"What? Uh… no, I don't think so…"

"Thanks, Mizuhara!" Minamo wasted no time in streaking down the hall, a determined look briefly crossing her face. Yomi stood blinking for a moment before she opened the door to her homeroom, not even stopping to ponder how Minamo knew that Chiyo had forgotten her past.

* * *

"And this is one of Osaka snorkeling!" Tomo exclaimed, bringing a finger down upon the picture in question.

"That _is_ pretty funny, actually," Kagura said as she rifled through the photos Tomo had brought her, most of which depicted her friends in strange or awkward situations; Yomi getting chased by an animal of some sort, Chiyo and Sakaki exercising, Yukari drooling on a midterm she was supposed to be grading, Kagura undressing…

"Hey, wait, who took this one?" Kagura picked up the racy photograph and squinted at it.

In the meantime, Sakaki and Chiyo entered the classroom together, and Yomi walked in less than a minute later. "Tomo, you're here early," said the tawny-haired girl. "What's up?"

"Nothing," the wildcat replied, leaving the flushing Kagura's side. "I came here a few minutes early to make some… _preparations_."

"Prepar… I'm not even going to ask; I don't want to kn…"

"I figured I would attempt the prank on Yukari again," Tomo cut off, "And so I brought the bucket back. I just need to fill it with water and…"

"You're impossible, you know that?" Whirling around in a blatant move to ignore her friend, Yomi turned her attentions elsewhere. "So… Sakaki! Any luck in getting Chiyo-chan's memory back?"  
"No," she replied, watching as Chiyo made her way over to Tomo and Kagura—Osaka had yet to arrive, as usual.

"I see. Do you have any more ideas about what we can do for her?"

This time, her response was nonverbal. Sakaki shook her head in the negative, bowing it slightly afterward. Yomi nodded, understanding. "I think this situation's out of our hands now. Chiyo-chan may need professional help."

Sakaki blinked. "A… alright…" Truth be told, _she_ wanted to be the one to get Chiyo to remember. She felt it was her duty as her friend. However, at the same time, Sakaki knew that being selfish like this wouldn't get Chiyo anywhere. Perhaps later, she'd talk with the school nurse, or tell a teacher or…

"And down it comes!"

Sakaki's interests were immediately torn from her dilemma to a scene playing out in front of her. At some point in the past minute, Tomo had picked up her gigantic bucket and proceeded to whack Chiyo over the head again. The little girl remained standing, mouth agape, emitting a squeak like a boot's on a tile floor, before she collapsed in a heap upon the ground near Kagura's desk.

Yomi, Kagura, and Sakaki's jaws dropped, their pupils contracting. The empty-headed Tomo considered making a crack about how they all looked like female Kimuras, but decided against it, as all three were now staring at her with a mixture of surprise, rage, and perplexity playing in their eyes.

Yomi herself looked positively homicidal. Ever since she'd known her, Tomo had never gone a day when she hadn't done something stupid. Every idiotic thing robbed her from her bank of lucidity, making her more and more insane with each action. But with this… with **_this_**…

Yomi could almost feel her brain plummet and hit the ground, as though an enormous hand had ripped it from her skull and hurled it there.

And so, Yomi threw her hands in the air, her bottom lip still quivering at a distance four inches below where it normally rested. "What in hell was _that_? Why did you…"

"I told you before," Tomo said all-too-calmly, shrugging as though her reasons for striking Chiyo upon the head were obvious. "We just had to hit her in the same place as we did yesterday and that should reverse the effects of the memory loss."

"…that is the _stupidest_ thing I've ever heard! Where did you come up with _that_?"

"It's common sense, my dear Koyomi, common sense."

Yomi couldn't even begin to suppress a grunt. "The only sensible thing to do is to throw you out the window, bucket behind you!"

"Yomi, your words burn me to the core," she said, playfully clutching her chest and moaning. "They hurt…"

The infuriated female began to make her way over to Tomo, her eyebrows narrowed in two perfect forty-five degree angles. "Oh, that's nothing compared to the hurt you're going to…"

"Yomi, chill," Kagura said, holding her back. "Tomo, I'm going to have to agree with her when she said that was stupid. Heck, you're stupid yourself…"

"What was that, Miss Forty-One-In-Math-Last-Semester?"

Kagura flinched but pretended to ignore that comment. "Look, I guess what's done is done; we can't go back and have you not hit Chiyo-chan… but shouldn't we at least check to see if she's still breathing?"

A black-and-red blur flew past the girls, and they all turned their heads to see that Sakaki had (hopefully) gotten over her shock and rushed to Chiyo's side. Placing her ear by Chiyo's lips, she declared, "She's breathing." Even though she was the one who had announced this, there was no doubt that a look of relief had been plastered onto Sakaki's face. "Maybe we should take her to the nurse…"

"I'm right here!"

The girls turned and saw a woman clad in a large white jacket in the doorway, striding toward them rapidly. Her hospital-esque garb and pale, cheery face made it obvious that she was the school's nurse.

"Wait, but…" Kagura started. "How did you…"

"I got a call from Kurosawa Minamo that a certain twelve-year-old genius might need medical attention," she explained. "I got held up in the hall, but arrived as quickly as I could… oh, what a nasty bump!" The nurse pointed to a raised lump upon Chiyo's crown. "And… there's another one! Goodness, this girl should wear a helmet to school!"

"You got that right," the now-subdued Yomi said whilst giving Tomo a poisonous sidelong glance.

"I'll head back to my office to get some ice. Be sure not to move her even if she wakes up, and, when I come back, you can tell me exactly what she needs."

"Yes, ma'am," every unconscious girl intoned, the ones on their feet bowing in her direction as the nurse waddled out of the classroom. Perhaps ten seconds later, Osaka appeared in the doorframe, on time for once. "G'mornin'!" she cried, jovial and bubbly as always. "What's up?"

"Not Chiyo-chan," Tomo said, pointing downward at the torpid prodigy.

Kagura rolled her eyes, explaining, "She was hit by the bucket again."

Osaka nodded. "Oh, so now her memory's doubly lost?"

"Oh, Kami-sama, I hope not," Yomi groaned.

"'Cuz if it is, I could teach her how to break apart her chopsticks again."

"I hope that's not necessary."

"Nn…"

An, "Eh?" sounded from the mouths of the girls, and they looked toward the ground to see Chiyo stir. The pigtailed girl held a hand to her bruised cranium and blinked tiredly. After a yawn, she mumbled, "Eh… what… happened?"

"Chiyo-chan's memory's gone again!" Osaka declared, looking as though she was about to bolt from the room to find a pair of chopsticks.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Miss Osaka?"

A collective gasp was taken. _Miss Osaka_? If Chiyo knew one name, could that mean…

"Chiyo-chan!" Yomi said. "Quick; who am I?"

"Yomi," she stated simply, "And that's Miss Tomo and Miss Kagura and Miss Sakaki."

The bespectacled girl knelt to Chiyo's level. "What's your favorite food?"

"Meatballs."

"What was your last test score?"

"A one hundred."

"Yukari-sensei's going to drive you home from school today!"

Someone standing fifteen feet away could have seen Chiyo shiver.

Yomi rose, slowly, and adjusted her glasses, blinking in stunned silence. "She… remembered…"

The group stood still for a moment. Then, Tomo thumped the child genius on her back and said, "Good to have you back, ol' friend! And to think that my hit got her memory back in the end!"

"If you hadn't tried to prank Yukari to begin with, she never would have lost it," Yomi murmured.

Chiyo cocked her head at this. "I… what?"

Now it was Sakaki's turn to speak. "Chiyo-chan… you don't remember what happened yesterday?"  
"No… well, I remember waking up and eating breakfast and walking to school… but that's it…"

"So she really _doesn't_ remember all that…" Kagura said.

"Yeah…" Yomi agreed.

"But that can't be!" Tomo cried, sounding frantic.

"What?" Now, as usual, all eyes were fixed upon the wildcat.

"Chiyo-chan, if you've forgotten that… could it be that you don't remember… your unconditional worship of me! You don't recall how you used to follow me around wherever I went, saying…"

Yomi promptly covered Tomo's mouth with her hand. Until she could get a hold of some tape of a stapler, the appendage would have to do. "She's lying," Yomi stated. "Just… don't listen to her."

Yomi proceeded to drag her friend to the other side of the room. After Kagura and Osaka exchanged a few words with Chiyo—nonsensical, chopstick-related, or otherwise—they followed after their squabbling companions, leaving Chiyo and Sakaki alone yet again. A moment's paused ensued, and then… "Miss Sakaki?"

"…yes?"

Chiyo hesitated for a little while longer now. "Yesterday, when I lost my memory… nothing… _happened_… that I should know about… right?"

Sakaki took a moment to mull her question over. There _had_ been that interlude between the two of them in Chiyo's room… but, then and again, neither of them had really been themselves that night. And, seeing as no one but herself knew about it, the memory couldn't do much harm. No; instead, Sakaki would carry it with her on her own, cherishing it like a little girl would a beloved doll. And so, she said, "No; I can't think of anything."

And so, Chiyo smiled. "Thank you, Miss Sakaki!" And so, "Miss Sakaki" smiled back.

Moments later, the nurse scurried back into the room, ice pack in hand, pressing the coldness to Chiyo's lumps. Yukari stumbled in soon after, mumbling something about "all-nighters", "saké", and "_Final Fantasy XII_". And, as the tall girl took a seat behind Chiyo, she got the notion that, now that "amnesiac Chiyo-chan" was gone for good, everything would be alright.

And, truth be told, Sakaki couldn't have been happier.

* * *

…and that's it! **End fic.** My thanks goes out to all of my readers and reviewers for staying with this fic for so long. Your support really helped me plunk myself down to write it, and the constructive criticism I received got me inspired to try to make this the best it could be. Thank you all so much. If you could review for once last time to tell me of your final thoughts, that would be appreciated. Arigatou! ((bows)) 


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